2026年2月3日 / 美国东部时间下午5:32 / CBS新闻
CBS新闻了解到，经过数月因分类争议、政府停摆以及加巴德办公室领导层变动导致的拖延后，美国情报界监督机构已将一份高度机密的举报人投诉——其中包含对国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德不当行为的指控——移交给国会高层领导人。
文件： 国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德于2025年10月23日在白宫。Alex Wong /盖蒂图片社
在2月2日致众议院和参议院情报委员会领导人的一封信中，情报界监察长克里斯托弗·福克斯表示，他于1月30日获得加巴德的最终批准，可将材料分享给一小群议员。该投诉最初于八个月前的2025年5月21日提交。
根据福克斯的信件（于2月3日被批准公开发布并获得CBS新闻），该投诉于2025年6月在之前领导层时期由情报界监察长办公室“行政关闭”，并未采取进一步调查步骤——福克斯表示，这一事实削弱了该问题是“紧急关切”需要立即通知国会的说法。
“如果今天出现相同或类似的问题，我可能会认定这些指控不符合法定的‘紧急关切’定义，”福克斯写道。
根据其办公室发言人的说法，福克斯于周一晚间亲自将高度机密的投诉提交给国会。在此过程中，“八人小组”（监督情报界的一小群国会领导人）的几名成员和工作人员以“阅后即还”的方式审查了该投诉。他们还收到了前代理情报界监察长塔玛拉·约翰逊的原始和补充认定备忘录，发言人说。
根据福克斯的信件，2025年5月由一名情报界员工提交的举报人投诉称，一份高度机密报告因政治原因被故意限制分发。它还指控某情报机构的法律部门因政治原因未向司法部移交潜在犯罪线索。
投诉的移交发生在新闻报道披露其存在的一天后，《华尔街日报》首先详细报道了这一情况。这一延误的消息立即引发了关于政治考虑是否拖延了行动并回避了对涉及该国最高情报官员的合法受保护举报人的监督的质疑。
众议院情报委员会主席、阿肯色州共和党人里克·克劳福德在一份声明中表示，他和排名成员吉姆·希姆斯以及工作人员已审查了该投诉。
“经过审查，我同意拜登政府时期的情报界监察长塔玛拉·约翰逊关于该投诉不可信的结论，以及现任情报界监察长克里斯·福克斯进行的重新审查得出的相同结论，”克劳福德说。“随之而来的媒体风暴——由猜测和缺乏事实推动——是企图抹黑加巴德主任和特朗普政府。”
当天早些时候向媒体发表讲话时，参议院情报委员会副主席马克·华纳表示，他将“紧急”查看该投诉，并批评加巴德长达数月的拖延。
华纳办公室发言人雷切尔·科恩补充道：“这一时间线明确表明，加巴德主任不理解其角色的基本职责——将某人置于她无法胜任的国家最敏感职位之一的可预见后果。”
“在确认听证会上，加巴德主任宣誓保证保护举报人并尊重国会的监督作用，无论她是否理解，这些承诺都是该职位应尽的义务，”她说。
希姆斯和参议院情报委员会主席汤姆·科顿的发言人拒绝置评。
福克斯由特朗普总统提名，曾担任加巴德的助手，于10月底以51-47票（按党派划分）在共和党控制的参议院中以微弱优势确认其职位。他的前任塔玛拉·约翰逊是一名职业官员，在拜登政府期间担任情报界代理监察长的临时职务。她仍在监察长办公室任职。
在投诉提交时，约翰逊认定，如果这些指控属实，该投诉符合法律规定的“紧急关切”定义，但她无法确定这些指控是否可信。
这一认定赋予举报人根据联邦法律直接向国会提交投诉的权利。
三天后，在收到更多信息后，约翰逊发布后续备忘录，结论是第一个指控不可信，而她仍然无法评估第二个指控。（后一结论未改变举报人的通知国会的合法权利。）
根据福克斯在信中列出的时间线，在其办公室寻求国家情报总监办公室内法律官员查看高度机密材料的许可期间，该投诉搁置了数月。他写道，其他延误原因包括他所谓的“分类复杂性”、2025年10月1日开始的43天政府停摆，以及国家情报总监办公室的领导层变动，包括新总法律顾问的确认。
在10月底获得投诉后，福克斯表示，他因许可问题无法与国家情报总监办公室最高律师杰克·德弗讨论该问题，德弗直到12月1日才能够查看该投诉。
12月4日，福克斯和德弗直接向加巴德提出了这一问题。根据信件，加巴德当时表示，她此前未被告知与国会分享投诉的许可正在等待中，但会尽快提供。当天晚些时候，德弗表示指导方针即将出台，“等待白宫法律顾问对可能主张的行政特权进行审查。”
近两个月后，即1月30日，国家情报总监的安全指导方针通过，根据福克斯的信件。
白宫未立即回应置评请求。
福克斯强调，投诉所依据的情报异常敏感。他说，此前只有2020年的一个举报人案件需要如此严格受控地提交给国会，而此处涉及的信息通常只会通过向高级国会领导人的口头简报分享。
周二，在投诉已被移交的消息传出之前，举报人的律师安德鲁·巴卡伊告诉CBS新闻，国家情报总监办公室一直在无解释地扣留该投诉。
“如果最初向国会议员传达该投诉有挑战性，那么只需要有人拿起电话，提醒国会山，‘嘿，我们有东西要给你们。我们正在想办法把它给你们，因为有一些复杂性。’”
“但流程可以推进。它确实在推进。像这样的事情不需要八个月才能送到国会山，”他说。
阅读完整信件：
情报界监察长信件提交国会
举报人律师谈图尔西·加巴德
举报人律师称图尔西·加巴德已将投诉审查搁置数月
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Intelligence watchdog shares whistleblower complaint involving Gabbard with Congress after monthslong delay
February 3, 2026 / 5:32 PM EST / CBS News
An intelligence community watchdog has handed over a highly classified whistleblower complaint that includes an allegation of wrongdoing by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to top congressional leaders, following months of delay tied to classification disputes, a government shutdown, and leadership turnover at Gabbard’s office, CBS News has learned.
File: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the White House, Oct. 23, 2025. Alex Wong / Getty Images
In a Feb. 2 letter to the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees, intelligence community Inspector General Christopher Fox said he received final approval on Jan. 30 from Gabbard to share the material with a tight circle of lawmakers. The complaint had originally been filed eight months earlier, on May 21, 2025.
According to Fox’s letter, which was labeled as approved for public release on Feb. 3 and obtained by CBS News, the complaint was “administratively closed” by the intelligence community Inspector General’s office in June 2025, under prior leadership, and no further investigative steps were taken – a fact Fox said undercut notions that the matter was an “urgent concern” requiring prompt congressional notification.
“[I]f the same or similar matter came before me today, I would likely determine that the allegations do not meet the statutory definition of ‘urgent concern,’” Fox wrote.
Fox hand-carried the highly classified complaint to Congress on Monday evening, according to a spokesperson for his office. During that engagement, several members and staff of the Gang of Eight — the small group of congressional leaders who oversee the intelligence community — reviewed the complaint on a “read-and-return” basis. They also received copies of former Acting intelligence community Inspector General Tamara Johnson’s original and supplemental determination memos, the spokesperson said.
The whistleblower complaint, filed last May by an intelligence community employee, alleged that a highly classified report was deliberately limited in distribution for political reasons. It also alleged that an intelligence agency’s legal office failed to refer a potential crime to the Justice Department, again for political reasons, according to Fox’s letter.
The handover of the complaint comes one day after public news reports revealed its existence, first detailed by The Wall Street Journal. News of the holdup sparked immediate questions about whether political considerations delayed action and sidestepped oversight of a legally protected whistleblower complaint involving the nation’s top intelligence official.
In a statement, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, said he and Ranking Member Jim Himes had, along with staff, reviewed the complaint.
“After doing so, I concur with the conclusion that the Biden-era IC IG, Tamara Johnson, reached regarding the non-credible nature of the complaint and the re-review that the current IC IG, Chris Fox, conducted, reaching the same conclusion,” Crawford said. “The ensuing media firestorm—fed by speculation and little fact—was an attempt to smear Director Gabbard and the Trump Administration.”
Speaking earlier in the day to the press, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner said he would view the complaint “imminently” and criticized Gabbard for the months-long delay.
Rachel Cohen, a spokesperson for Warner’s office, added, “This timeline makes unmistakably clear that Director Gabbard does not understand the basic obligations of her role – the predictable result of placing someone out of her depth in one of the nation’s most sensitive positions.”
“During her confirmation hearing, Director Gabbard pledged under oath to protect whistleblowers and respect Congress’s oversight role, commitments that come with this office whether she understands them or not,” she said.
Spokespeople for Himes and Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton declined to comment.
Fox, who was nominated by President Trump and previously served as an aide to Gabbard, was narrowly confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate to his role in a 51-47 vote split along party lines in late October. His predecessor, Tamara Johnson, was a career official who had served as the intelligence community acting inspector general in an interim role during the Biden administration. She is still employed by the inspector general’s office.
At the time the complaint was submitted, Johnson determined that the complaint met the legal definition of an “urgent concern” if the allegations were true, but said she could not determine whether they were credible.
That determination gave the whistleblower the right under federal law to take the complaint directly to Congress.
Three days later, after receiving additional information, Johnson issued a follow-up memo concluding that the first allegation was not credible and that she still could not assess the second. (The later finding did not change the whistleblower’s legal right to notify Congress.)
According to the timeline Fox set forth in the letter, the complaint sat for months while his office sought clearance for legal officials within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to view the highly classified material. Other reasons for the delay, he wrote, included what he called “complexity in the classification,” a 43-day government shutdown that began Oct 1, 2025, and leadership changes at ODNI, including the confirmation of a new general counsel.
After gaining access to the complaint in late October, Fox said he was held up by clearance issues from discussing it with ODNI’s top lawyer, Jack Dever, who was unable to view the complaint until Dec. 1.
On Dec. 4, Fox and Dever raised the issue directly with Gabbard. According to the letter, Gabbard said at the time that she had not previously been told that clearance to share the complaint with Congress was pending, but would provide it as soon as possible. Later that day, Dever indicated the guidance was forthcoming, “pending a review by the White House Counsel for a potential assertion of executive privilege.”
Almost two months later, on Jan. 30, the DNI’s security guidance came through, according to Fox’s letter.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox stressed that the intelligence underlying the complaint was exceptionally sensitive. He said only one previous whistleblower case, in 2020, required such tightly controlled delivery to Congress, and that the information at issue would normally be shared only through oral briefings to senior congressional leaders.
On Tuesday, before news emerged that the complaint had been handed over, the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, told CBS News ODNI had been withholding it from Congress without explanation.
“If this was challenging initially to get to members of congress, all that had to be done was somebody picking up the phone, alerting the Hill that, ‘Hey, we got something that’s coming your way. We’re trying to figure out how to get it to you because of, you know, some complexities.’”
“But the process can move. It does move. It does not take eight months to get something like this to the Hill,” he said.
Read the full letter here:
Intelligence community inspector general letter shared with Congress
Whistleblower’s lawyer on Tulsi Gabbard
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/whistleblowers-lawyer-says-tulsi-gabbard-has-stalled-review-of-complaint-for-months/
Whistleblower’s lawyer says Tulsi Gabbard has stalled review of complaint for months
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